Utah Skiing Opens 2016 Season With Utah Invitational

12/31/2015 12:00 AM | Skiing

Dec. 31, 2015

SALT LAKE CITY - The Utah ski team opens its 2016 season hosting the alpine portion of the Utah Invitational from Jan. 4-6 at Park City Mountain Resort.

The Utes host the men's and women's slalom on Monday, Jan. 4, with the women's giant slalom on Jan. 5 and men's giant slalom on Jan. 6. Races are tentatively scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. each day at the Eagle Race Arena.

"We have had an excellent fall training period and have scored well in some early season openers so I am anxious as well as optimistic to get the RMISA season underway," Utah Director of Skiing Kevin Sweeney said. "We have typically scored well at home with the season opener, so my hopes are that this will trend will continue. No doubt there are unknowns in regards to how other schools have recruited, who is returning from break healthy and how the newcomers, including our own, will fare in the their first collegiate starts. We are well prepared. The coaching staff, strength and conditioning and medical team have pieced together a great program this fall with athletes achieving personal bests in many different tests. We have great leadership in our captains as well as returnees so we should open with confidence. I just want everyone to go out there and give 100%. This is it, the first stop on the tour to securing NCAA Championship qualifying results. We are always excited to race on our home venues Park City and Soldier Hollow. Both venues go out of their way to put on excellent events. I know the circuit really enjoys coming here to race."

The Nordic portion of the Utah Invitational will be held Jan. 10-11 at Soldier Hollow Resort.

With an NCAA champion and seven All-Americans returning, the ski team looks to continue to post strong performances at the national level in 2015. The Utes finished third at the NCAA Championships last year and Utah also has three second-place finishes over the past five years.

"Our strength will be how well-balanced we are," Sweeney said. "The Nordic squad comes back with tremendous experience and they are working so well together. Our biggest recruiting effort was with the alpine squad and we are really pleased how that is turning out. I feel confident that we have filled the holes that we lost to graduation. We have seen some great early results and I think we're a threat in each discipline. When we put that all together, I think we have a very good team capable of striking at the podium consistently. Our depth will be a real strength. The fact that we have so many returning athletes that know the collegiate circuit has already provided great leadership.

"No question there is a very strong desire to shoot for the NCAA podium, but there is balance with a very mature appreciation for knowing that it's going to take a lot of hard work and team unity. I think that our cohesiveness with the alpine and Nordic teams will pay dividends down the road."

On the Nordic side, both the women's and men's squads return every skier from last year which includes 2015 national freestyle champion Veronika Mayerhofer and All-Americans Sloan Storey, Anna-Lena Heynen and Niklas Persson.

The alpine team returns three All-Americans - Endre Bjertness, Joergen Brath and Chloe Fausa. Several skiers are ranked in the top 100 in the world to start the season, with Fausa in the top 70 in the giant slalom and redshirt Sasha Zaitsoff and newcomer Roni Remme both in the top 85 in the slalom.

"Starting in the fall it was immediately apparent that all the returning athletes, as well as the new athletes, had a tremendous summer of training and came back in excellent shape," Sweeney said. "That led into an excellent fall training period for both alpine and Nordic. The new members of the team really came in fit and in good shape so it was great to see from a coaching perspective, and it was extremely motivating to have newcomers pushing some of the returnees in some of our time trials and fitness testing. I think we had a great fall period. I think we came out of it in really good shape both physically and mentally."

Following the Utah Invitational, the Utes travel to Montana (Jan. 10-11, 17-18), Colorado (Jan. 22-24) and New Mexico (Feb. 20-21) before returning to Colorado for the RMISA Championship/NCAA West Regional hosted by Denver (Feb. 26-27). Colorado hosts the NCAA Championship from March 9-12.

Alpine

"We have been very pleased with this group of student athletes," Utah head alpine coach Jaka Korencan said. "Their work ethic and passion for the sport is unparalleled and I know that the future is extremely bright for this team. We have a great balance between our experienced returning athletes and a group of young and talented freshmen. All four of our new recruits have done an amazing job adjusting to the new system, and I could not be more excited to have them on the team. Unfortunately we are still dealing with some injuries, but everyone is working really hard to get healthy for the season.

"Our early season training camps in Colorado went extremely well, and we have already seen some fantastic and motivating results in early NorAm and FIS races. Overall we are very excited and fortunate to have this great group of athletes representing the Utes this year. I really believe this is a Ute year!"

The alpine team lost several All-Americans to graduation (Kristiina Rove, Ana Kobal and Andy Trow) but the Utes also return several talented skiers and several newcomers come in with high expectations.

The men's alpine team returns a pair of All-Americans in Bjertness and Brath. Bjertness finished sixth in the giant slalom at NCAAs in his first year with the Utes and had eight top-10 finishes during the year. Brath, who was an All-American in the giant slalom in 2014, has competed at the NCAA Championships the last two seasons and has 10 career top-10 finishes.

Dominic Demschar was an NCAA alternate last year. He was a first-team All-RMISA selection in his first season, recording two podium finishes and competing at the FIS World Ski Championships.

Three newcomers will be looking to make an impact immediately for the Utes. Zaitsoff, who redshirted last year after suffering a knee injury in the preseason, begins the year in the top 85 in the world in the slalom. Martin Grasic spent last season on the Canadian Alpine Development national team. He won a junior national slalom championship in 2013. Ty Sprock finished 12th in the giant slalom at the 2015 U.S. National Championships.

For the women, Fausa is a two-time All-American in the giant slalom. She has four career victories and eight career podium finishes. Fausa starts the season in the top 70 in the world in the giant slalom.

Lauren Samuels and Teagen Palmer are both two-time NCAA alternates. Palmer ended last season on a strong note, finishing sixth in the giant slalom at the 2015 RMISA Championships. Samuels has eight career top-15 finishes.

Newcomer Remme begins the season in the top 85 in the world in the slalom. She finished 10th in the slalom at the 2015 Junior World Ski Championships. Julie Mohagen won the 2015 Sweden slalom junior national championship.

Nordic

"In collegiate athletics it is rare to work with the same team two years in a row, so this is a very exciting opportunity for the Nordic ski team," said Utah head Nordic coach Abi Holt. "We neither graduated, nor added, nor replaced anyone from last year's team. This means that the Nordic team has a full squad of seasoned veterans and a full crew that is ready for the RMISA season. I loved working with this group last year. They work well together, and I anticipate another great season for us. Our fall training has been steady and solid and our early racing efforts have left all of us excited for the season to come. The women's team was the top team in the country last year, and I know they want to hold on to that accolade. I also know the men would like a bigger share of the glory this year. I am truly nothing but excited when I think of the season to come. We're ready to race, and we can't wait to get started at Soldier Hollow at our season opener on January 10th and 11th."

The women's side is stacked with talent with all three All-Americans returning from last year. In addition to Mayerhofer, who won the NCAA championship in the 5-km freestyle and finished second in the 5-km classic in a photo finish, Storey and Heynen both also finished in the top 10 in both races to make Utah the highest scoring team in both women's nordic races at the NCAA Championships. Mayerhofer finished on the podium 10 times in 12 races last year with four total wins. Storey is a five-time All-American, earning honors in five of the six NCAA races she has competed in her career. She has four career podium finishes and 12 career top-5 finishes. Heynen has 13 career top-10 finishes.

Also on the women's side are Josefin Nilsson and Natalia Muller. Nilsson is a two-time NCAA alternate and has three career top-5 finishes. Muller had four top-10 finishes in her first season last year and was also an NCAA alternate.

On the men's side, Persson is a four-time All-American in his three years at Utah, earning classical honors in 2014 and 2015 and freestyle honors in 2013 and 2015. He has six career podium finishes with one career win. Noe Bellet and Kevin Bolger have competed at the NCAA Championships the last two seasons. Bellet has six career top-5 finishes and is a three-time second-team All-RMISA selection. Bolger has eight career top-10 finishes in his two seasons.

Nick Hendrickson was an NCAA alternate in his first season last year after joining Utah from the U.S. Nordic Combined Ski Team. He had three top-10 finishes. Oscar Ivars and Tucker McCrerey are both two-time NCAA alternates. Ivars has three career top-5 finishes and McCrerey has 10 career top-15 finishes.